The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announces initial casting and the creative team for the eagerly-anticipated world premiere Broadway Center Stage production of Schmigadoon! based on the Emmy Award®–winning Apple Original series from Broadway Video, Executive Produced by Saturday Night Live creator, executive producer, and 2021 Kennedy Center Honoree Lorne Michaels. Tony Award® winner Christopher Gattelli (Death Becomes Her, Newsies) will direct and choreograph the new musical with book, music, and lyrics by Emmy Award® winner and Grammy® nominee Cinco Paul. Schmigadoon! is produced by special arrangement with Broadway Video.

Schmigadoon! will star two-time Tony Award® nominee Alex Brightman (Beetlejuice, The Kennedy Center’s Spamalot) as Josh Skinner and Sara Chase (The Great Gatsby, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) as Melissa Gimble, New York doctors who go backpacking in a last-ditch attempt to save their failing relationship, but instead get lost in the woods and end up trapped in Schmigadoon, a magical town that’s a classic Golden Age musical come to life. They are joined by Emmy Award® winner and Tony Award® nominee Kevin Del Aguila (Yellow Face, Some Like it Hot) as the Reverend Layton, Ann Harada (Cinderella, Avenue Q) reprising her role from the Apple Original series as Florence Menlove, McKenzie Kurtz (The Heart of Rock and Roll, Wicked) as Betsy McDonough, Isabelle McCalla (Water for Elephants, The Kennedy Center’s Footloose) as Emma Tate, Javier Muñoz (Hamilton, In the Heights) as Doc Lopez, Tony Award® nominee Brad Oscar (Something Rotten!, Mrs. Doubtfire) as Mayor Menlove, Tony Award® nominee Emily Skinner (Suffs, The Cher Show) as Mildred Layton, and Ryan Vasquez (The Notebook, Hamilton) as Danny Bailey.

“It is a thrilling opportunity to expand the scope of Broadway Center Stage by producing our first world premiere musical,” said Artistic Director and Executive Producer Jeffrey Finn. “There could not be a more perfect show to do this with than Schmigadoon!, a new musical comedy that celebrates the hallmark of the Broadway Center Stage series, great Broadway musicals. I can’t wait for audiences to join us in the magical and hilarious world of Schmigadoon! with this incredible cast and creative team.”

The musical will feature hits from the Grammy®–nominated score—including the Emmy–winning “Corn Puddin’”—plus exciting new songs, and the production will include musical direction by Steven Malone, orchestrations by Doug Besterman, musical supervision by David Chase, scenic design by Scott Pask, lighting design by Jen Schriever, and sound design by Haley Parcher. Casting is by The Telsey Office. Jeffrey Finn is the Artistic Director and Executive Producer of Broadway Center Stage.

Tickets for Broadway Center Stage: Schmigadoon! are now on-sale via the Kennedy Center website, in-person at the box office, or by calling 202-467-4600.

The Broadway Center Stage series has been acclaimed by the Washington Post as “a raging success at the Kennedy Center reflecting a Broadway sheen.” Its hit production of Monty Python’s SPAMALOT recently enjoyed a critically-acclaimed Broadway engagement and will embark on a national tour in 2025.

About The Author

Dean Rogers

Editor-in-Chief/Entertainment Reporter

I knew early on that I wanted to take my place among the stars. One day, my mother saw me reading The Washington Post at a very young age. Who would have known that it would be the building blocks of my journey? Since that day, I dedicated my life to learn all that is learnable. I read everything from encyclopedias, to books, to dictionaries, to magazines. I’m also an avid consumer of television, with my favorite genre being game shows. If you’ve seen me on Who Wants to be a Millionaire or Wheel of Fortune, then you know that this interest has served me well!

My unique style of reporting began back in junior high school, when I started to chronicle the events that shaped my life. Whether it was the annual family vacation or the local science fiction convention, I shot numerous pictures and recorded my thoughts so I could truly appreciate the history. During my senior year at Friendly High, I wrote what was to be my first masterpiece, “Advanced Space Academy – A One Week Journey.” I sent the eleven-page article back to the U.S. Space Camp staff. The article was highly praised for being “one of the best written articles in the history of U.S. Space Camp.” From then on, I knew what I wanted to do for rest of my life — to be a reporter.

Since then, I have trained in Broadcast Journalism at Bowie State University (2008) in Bowie, MD earning a B.S. in Communications. I gained experience in news production and editing through field experiences with Bowie Community Media Corporation, Prince George’s Community Television, and Bowie State University Television. I also wrote scripts for a variety of quiz shows for over five years.

As a lifelong movie buff, I now see close to 100 films every year. I took this love of movies to the next step when I became a co-host for Eclipse Magazine TV in the fall of 2005. While at EMTV, I interviewed celebrities, worked red carpets, and attended a wide variety of movie screenings. In January 2009, I took a leap of faith and started my own entertainment news magazine, The Rogers Revue. Shortly afterward, my life-long journey of studying the silver screen and writing about what I learned finally earned me a place in the Washington Area Film Critics Association.

All of this has led me here, giving you the latest entertainment news for the DMV and the entire nation, and I am truly excited for whatever will come next.

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